Ghosts of the past
by KyonxHaruhi
Summary: Haruhi learns of a ghost haunting their school. So of course, she drags the SOS brigade to stake out for it! Meanwhile, Kyon learns SOME events from the past can come back to haunt him...


Franz: This is my first crack at Haruhi Suzumiya fics…hope it turns out nice…

**Disclaimer: Haruhi Suzumiya owns all. And I promise I will go back to writing my Fire Emblem fics soon. This is a one-shot, despite whatever atmosphere you will get.**

**Summary: Set after the summer vacation. Haruhi finds an intriguing article in a website about their school, so she drags the SOS brigade along ghost hunting! Cliché? I expected that… but at least try it…**

---0---

My life is normal.

Of course, "normal" is a relative term in this club. Our motley crew, made up of all sorts of individuals that come from a variety of sectors, would probably make the world's most eccentric people happy.

Or make everyone like me.

Weird, no?

---0--

It was like any other day in our fair club.

Koizumi brought along a chess board today. I swear, if he loves board games so much, can't he at least learn how to play them well?

The cheerful angel and official muse of our club, named the SOS brigade, Asahina Mikuru, smiled as she placed the warm cup of tea in front of me.

"Um…I bought new tea leaves… I hope they taste good…"

I've said this once, and I'll say it again. Anything you make tastes good. Why, I bet you can make stale bread taste like it was cooked by a world-class baker…

The cheering idiot, Koizumi, only smiled wider as he accepted the tea.

Asahina, wearing the nurse outfit our esteemed Brigade leader has somehow procured for her a few days ago, mumbled some words that seemed analogous to "thank you" before leaving to bring some tea to the SOS brigade's humanoid interface, designed to interact with humans, Nagato Yuki.

No, really.

Yes, I always marveled how our club leader, who is obsessed with everything strange and paranormal in this world, could attract three things she had mouthed off at the start of our school year, and yet have no clue they exist.

Right now, we're playing a dangerous game of hide and seek. We have to silently observe our fair leader from a distance, while making sure she fails in seeking us, or maybe force me to her ripping jaws, if only to make her feel less bored. To put it more accurately, we were playing Russian roulette with an expert.

Speaking of which, I think she's here already.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"

Sorry? I'm sorry I joined this club in the first place.

Our fair club leader, who all of you know too well as Haruhi Suzumiya, went in the way only Haruhi Suzumiya can do, and proceeded to sit in her table, the one with the computer we stole, or as Haruhi prefers to say, "borrowed indefinitely", and bega clicking away.

Yeah, all in all, a normal day.

"Suzumiya-san seems rather cheerful today, isn't she?"

Koizumi Itsuki, you do know I prefer sitting in silence from listening to your expert analysis on Haruhi's state of mind, right?

"Well, you should be more interested, seeing as you are our remedy if anything goes wrong.

Oh, I'm a remedy now?

I took my glance away from the chess board, which was probably littered with Black pieces. I was going to win anyway.

My gaze strayed at the unmoving humanoid interface, Nagato-san, as she flipped the pages of the book quietly.

I then turned my attention to the living doll that was Asahina-san, preparing more tea to bring to Haruhi. Ever since the day Haruhi abducted her from the calligraphy club to become our official muse, a day has never passed with me admiring her beauty.

Seeing this from an outsider's point of view, this would be a somewhat normal club.

Uh, those outsiders sure are wrong.

The grinning idiot, esper boy, ass-kisser to the one and only Haruhi Suzumiya, beckoned to me.

"It seems Suzumiya-san wishes to talk to you."

"Huh?"

It was then that I noticed Haruhi looking at me intently. What? Are you trying to turn me into pudding?

I daresay, that last thought is far better than being your babysitter.

"Don't be stupid, Kyon! Come here!"

By the way, if you've forgotten, my name's Kyon. It's pretty much stupid trying to say my real name now, as everyone's calling me Kyon. Sigh, it's a curse I have to live with, I guess.

Why?

---0---

Haruhi pointed at the screen.

"Look!"

It was a website about paranormal talk and stuff. Why am I not surprised?

"Well, it looks like a site you'd browse…"

"Shut up! Look here!"

She pointed to an article, posted by one of the many contributors of this illustrious site, so I began to read.

_At first, I thought I was just dreaming. We had to stay behind at school for our presentation, me being a member of the drama club after all. We had stayed quite late, about probably until 11 pm already, so we were all bushed. We only had to finish a bit of work, so I bade farewell to my club mates to go home._

_I took my usual path around school, when I thought I heard somebody crying from one of the classrooms. I first thought it was just the lead actress in the play of the drama club crying, probably practicing her role, so I decided to look for her. To my surprise, nobody was inside when I entered the classroom! _

_But I could distinctly hear the noise, so I was freaked out. I quickly headed home, but I found sleeping hard._

_The next day, I researched about it, and found out other sightings scarier than my own experience. Some say they've seen a bloody woman crying and moaning in pain in one of the first year classrooms, and some theorize it was probably a teacher who committed suicide. Some people say they've seen desks move around, and thrown around the room! Some have even gone so far to give a name:_ Ryoko.

What the heck? This sounds like some commonplace ghost story. Why would Haruhi be so interested?

"Haven't you noticed? Look!"

The writer of the article didn't give a name for the school, but she DID include some pictures. Weird.

The school seems awfully familiar…

"BAKA! It's our school!"

Oh yeah. No wonder the classroom seemed familiar. It was our classroom. The one Asakura Ryoko almost killed me in.

Brr, talk about bringing up bad memories.

"So…you're interested in this? It seems so commonplace, and somewhat fake."

True, Haruhi DID say she wanted out-of-this-world mysteries, not commonplace stories that you can hear anywhere.

"Whatever are you talking about, Kyon! This is a bonafide mystery! And in our school, too! Think of the fame we will get once we succeed in unraveling this mystery!"

Aren't you happy with the fame you've garnered through harassing poor Asahina-san?

Haruhi didn't seem to care. Of course.

She merely slammed her hand against her desk to get everyone's attention, before giving an announcement.

"So listen up! Everyone, make sure you get permission, for tomorrow night, the SOS brigade is going ghost hunting!"

---0---

After Haruhi laid out the details, she dismissed us.

As much as I was skeptical about the whole thing, I needed to make sure this wasn't going to turn out like the cave cricket incident, so I approached the one person I could trust in matters like this.

Nagato.

---0---

"There is somewhat abnormal data present in your classroom."

And by abnormal, you mean…?

"Remnants."

Of what? Ah, forget it; you'll probably make my head spin again.

The pale-skinned, emotionless girl merely looked at me with impassive eyes, before turning towards the direction of her apartment, while I was left confused.

Sigh, this is turning out like one of the many episodes we went through, thanks to Haruhi Suzumiya.

---0---

In the end, I managed to warn my parents my arrival at home would be delayed until, say, the next day?

As it was a Friday that day, there was no problem with the whole thing going late, although I had my misgivings about missing out on home cooked dinner.

I wondered why Haruhi made us wait after school. Why couldn't we just go home and gather there after the sun had gone down?

After seeing Haruhi with a camera, though, I remembered a little detail.

Poor Asahina-san.

---0---

The rest of the afternoon was spent dressing Asahina-san up in all sorts of costumes for the cover jacket of the DVD of the "hit" movie we made at the cultural festival. It was a long time in the making, but Haruhi had finally gotten a sponsor to help her mass produce the DVDs.

"S-suzumiya-san! P-please! Mercy!" Sob. "At least don't grope me that way…"

Asahina-san pleaded mercy from the molesting hands of the merciless Haruhi. It was like Asahina was a Christian fed to the lions, as Haruhi snapped picture after picture of the battle waitress from the future in all sorts of seductive poses.

Haruhi, have you ever gotten a doll when you were a kid? Is that why you treat Asahina-san like your personal doll?

Two cries emanated throughout the halls as Haruhi continuously took picture after picture.

---0---

I glanced at the wall clock. 7 pm.

We were at Haruhi and my classroom. Haruhi eventually got tired of molesting the poor Asahina so after she had changed into the regular North High school uniform I rarely saw, we had settled into the classroom.

To while away the time, Koizumi, thankfully, brought playing cards for us to play with this time. Seems like he finally had some sense.

Too much loss on the chess board, Koizumi?

He only replied with an idiotic grin.

"Actually, I was just hoping for a change of pace."

Heh.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Nagato look around her, as if scanning the surroundings. Preparing for battle, probably. Although I'm still not what she's preparing for…

Haruhi paced listlessly around the room, absorbed in deep thought.

"Haruhi, anything bothering you?"

The last thing I'd want is to get you bored to death.

"W-what? Nothing, I was just thinking about this…ghost."

Sure. Whatever you say.

Koizumi had begun shuffling the cards.

---0---

Three hours of Go Fish will probably drive anyone crazy.

"Gah! This is boring!"

Uh-oh.

That sounds bad.

The primary function of Asahina, time traveler extraordinaire, Nagato, humanoid interface, and Koizumi, esper boy wonder, is to observe Haruhi, and prevent her from doing drastic changes to this world. Because of that, our club has mainly become a club to relieve the boredom of a bratty girl who incidentally, has the power to erase the world on a whim.

"I'm going out for some fresh air!"

And with that, Haruhi left.

The tension in the room felt heavy as she left. I felt like it would burst any moment now…

Wait for it…

"Have you sensed it?"

Sensed what? Koizumi only looked at me, quizzically.

"There is a strange feeling in this room. Strong…killing intent."

"Abnormal data detected. I shall begin the deletion of this data."

Nagato stood up and proceeded to the now vacant seat of Asakura Ryoko. Until now, nobody ever decided to sit in the chair for reasons unknown to me. Even the teacher seemed apprehensive of occupying the vacant seat.

"What's going on, Nagato-san?"

Esper boy wonder Koizumi raised the answer with that idiotic grin in his face.

"Asakura Ryouko has planted data in this seat as a counter measure in case of the event she is to be defeated. It contains fragments of her data."

So, it's like a copy of her exists here? So how come you weren't able to detect it the first time around.

"Yes."

"Um…s-so that means, she's the ghost those people saw?"

To my surprise, Asahina-san raised the question.

"Correct."

So why does she appear as a bloody mess to other people?

"The data has achieved self evolution, taking on a form it deems better suited to its original purpose."

Which is…?

"Dispatching you."

Great. Asakura's gone but her copy is still out to get me.

"I shall deal with this."

She began reciting an incantation underneath her breath.

"It seems it will take a great deal of time to finish this, and I believe Haruhi-san is returning. I suggest you go talk to her and detain her as much as possible."

Koizumi told me to leave and prevent Haruhi from entering the room? So am I a pawn now?

I suddenly felt like a blast of wind went through me. The room seemed to change as well, the shapes all around me turning into weird geometric shapes.

It seemed awfully reminiscent of when Asakura Ryoko almost killed me.

"Nagato, what are you doing?"

"I am containing this data. This will cause extreme damage to this room, so I request you leave."

Huh?

"Suzumiya-san is to enter the room at any moment. You must prevent her from doing so as much as possible, or else she will arrive at an empty room."

And besides that, if she manages to see all this, we're doomed.

"But how am I supposed to stop her from entering the room?"

Koizumi tapped my shoulder.

"You'll find a way."

The desks suddenly began floating in mid-air. In reply, Nagato began whispering even faster, and a minute later, the desks began to float back to the laws of gravity and physics.

To my surprise, though, three triangles from the eerie background of the room detached itself, and lunged towards us four. A split-second later, a force field generated around us, barely saving us, especially me, from death.

_Please die!_ The voice reverberated in my head again. Great. More emotional and psychological trauma. A view of Nagato bloodied would certainly give me nightmares again.

Explosions suddenly appeared on the invisible force field Nagato had placed for us, causing massive shockwaves inside the field we were in. Asahina-san had to hide behind me. It was obvious the two of us were going to be useless in this battle.

"Kyon, this is going to be messy. I suggest you leave now."

Good idea, Koizumi, although I highly doubt you can do anything better.

"I find that my powers work here. This may come in handy."

Koizumi formed another red ball in his hand and hurled it towards two rushing objects I could vaguely distinguish. Another memory came on me, this time when Koizumi showed me his powers as an esper.

"I shall create an opening for you."

Nagato said in her cool, expressionless tone.

I suddenly noticed a onrush of bright light appear on my right. This must be the exit here.

"Fine."

Here I go, off to baby-sit Haruhi again.

"Good luck."

It was Nagato who wished me luck. Koizumi only smiled, while Asahina-san prepared to take cover.

"What about her?"

I pointed to Asahina-san, who was cowering in one of the weird shapes, only for it to disappear.

'We'll protect her! Now go!"

This was Koizumi talking.

I nodded and began to run towards the exit.

A sudden explosion suddenly blocked my passage, as debris scattered all around me, only to dissolve into crystallized materials and dust. A silhouette of a girl slowly appeared before me, causing me to stumble onto the floor.

Her long, purple hair was streaked with blood, as well as her face and her uniform. In her right hand, she held a blood-soaked knife. Her eyes, however, were not cheerful this time; they were pale and emotionless.

"Please die."

She raised her knife to stab me, when two red orbs suddenly hit her, or rather an invisible force field that protected her. Two crystallized explosions followed, and I thought I saw a hint of a crack in the force field.

The blood soaked girl, Asakura's copy, was suddenly blown away by some sort of attack, only to dissolve into crystallized dust and rematerialize at the other end of the room.

"Please die. Please die. Please die."

I couldn't take this anymore. I bolted out of the room in fear.

"Good luck!"

---0---

I exited the room, not daring to peek in to see whatever they had done inside. I felt bad about leaving the vulnerable Asahina-san behind, but she'll probably be safe. I wiped my sweat as I tried to figure out where she could probably in right now.

She said she was just going for a walk. Where would a girl like her walk? The science laboratory?

I decided to look at our clubroom.

As I walked through the corridors of our room, I couldn't help but think of that fateful dream. The dream that almost destroyed the world I knew of, and the dream that most probably had a great effect on slowly and subtly changing Haruhi.

She wasn't at the clubroom.

Sigh, I'm getting thirsty.

This night seemed almost like that same night, only the people weren't missing, there were no blue giants coming to kill us, no, it was just a normal night. The building, thankfully, was not getting ripped apart by blue giants who defied the laws of physics.

I saw a figure sitting next to the vending machine.

"Hey, Haruhi."

I sat down next to the enigma of a person, Haruhi Suzumiya.

"What're you doing here? Have you seen the ghost already?"

Not really. Let's just say I'm supposed to detain you while Nagato finish up on cleaning the rest of the remnants of Asakura's data. Oh, and I almost got killed by that psycho.

"Not really. I was just…bored…"

I sighed at the lack of a better excuse.

"I see."

Strange. You seem less excited about this as earlier.

"H-huh? Not really. I was just…thinking…"

About what? Aliens, time travelers, and espers?

"Shut up. I'm serious here."

Silence reigned for a minute as we sipped our drinks, side by side.

"Say, Kyon."

I'm all ears, all might brigade commander. What is your request that I have to obey, at the risk of my own life?

"Have you ever thought of what would happen after you die?"

After going through near-death experiences a couple of times, most notably just a few minutes ago, I'd say, yes.

"I was just thinking… I wonder, would I turn out like that ghost we're looking for? Unable to move on with life just because I wasn't able to fulfill what I want? Stuck in some crappy classroom scaring the life out of teenagers? Incapable of getting some rest from this boring life?"

Beats me. Koizumi normally does the philosophical stuff around here.

"I'm serious, Kyon!"

She sighed.

"If ever I see that ghost, I…I'd want to ask her why she keeps on haunting this boring world. Is she doing this because she finds heaven boring, too? Is she here to bring excitement to this world? Does she feel she failed to do something in this world?"

That sounds like a thing you would do.

Her eyes strayed to the stars in the night sky, and the pale moon showing half of its face.

"I've always wanted to be special. One in a million. That's why I have this outlook on life."

"..."

I found no words to say to her once again. Why is it so hard for me to say anything to comfort her?

"If I die, would I be remembered the same way these ghosts are remembered?"

Brr, creepy thought. Looks like I don't have to distract Haruhi after all.

I stretched my arms out wide in a gesture of relaxing. Hard to think I just went through a harrowing experience.

"You know… maybe, when one day you'll die, you'll have figured out the answer to that question."

Wow. What a lame answer. But I had to do something. The last time she was this melancholic, she almost destroyed the entire world except me. The least I could do is try to comfort her.

"Maybe you're right."

Haruhi looked me with that trademark grin the SOS brigade knows so well.

"Of course, as Brigade commander, I cannot be weak! I can't be bogged down as question like this! I have to be strong for my brigade!"

That seemed to have snapped her out of her reverie.

"Let's go, Kyon! We have to go back and see of that ghost is scaring Mikuru-chan!"

Wait, how was I supposed to know they were done again?

"Wait, Haruhi!"

I grabbed her hand, and pulled it tight, not wanting to let go. My palms began to sweat, but I didn't mind it now.

What the hell was I doing?

I don't know if it was because of a sense of urgency, or maybe it was something I had wanted deep down inside me, but the impulse just came.

"You know, I really liked you in that ponytail."

Yeah, this seems awful familiar. I said those exact same words in that same dream too. Only now, it was real.

Haruhi was staring at me, mouth agape.

"…what the? Kyon, are you hitting on me?"

I blushed in embarrassment, letting go of my grip in the process.

"Kyon, what the hell was that for?"

Haruhi suddenly zoomed in my face, creating uncomfortable distance between us. Beads of perspiration began appearing at my face.

She suddenly grinned, in the way Haruhi Suzumiya only can do.

"Kyon, you have a crush on me, no? You dog! First, it was Nagato you confessed to, now it's me!"

What the heck are you talking about?! I told you already, that confession was from an old junior high friend of mine!

"So why did you say you liked my hair in a ponytail?"

"N-nothing at all! I just felt like it!"

"Why are you blushing then?"

Damn, this was getting too scary at the moment. I have to find some way to distract her.

"Kyon-kun! Suzumiya-san!"

The voice of Asahina-san, followed by the three figures seemingly emerging from the shadows, saved me. You know, I think I rarely get happy whenever I see Koizumi, and this is one of those moments.

"Oi! What happened! Seen a ghost?"

Haruhi suddenly retreated her gaze at me and looked at the three. Outwardly, it seemed like nothing happened.

I'll have to get the details later.

---0---

The whole weekend, surprisingly, went fast. In fact, I found it quite…boring.

Damn. Is Haruhi rubbing off at me?

Anyway, I had asked Nagato what had happened, and why she wasn't able to clean that data up the first time.

"She has planted the data long ago, before our confrontation. When I had restored the data in the classroom, it was a fixture in the room already, so I was not able to detect it."

That explains it. No wonder. So why did it begin manifesting that way?

Nagato pulled out a book.

On the cover was written, "World History on Ghosts" and on the inside page, Haruhi's name was written.

So it was Haruhi who influenced it to evolve that way?

"Yes. The copy combined both Haruhi Suzumiya's influence and the information it obtained to eventually grow strong enough to manifest itself in such way."

Well, that's enough for an explanation for me.

"Well, thanks, Nagato-san."

Afterwards, Asahina-san told me all about the battle. Luckily, she made it without a scratch, although Koizumi got hurt. Well, Koizumi says he's fine, and I don't really care, but still, I'd feel a pang of guilt if he ended up dead just because of my carelessness, eh?

Speaking of which, I met him on one of the class corridors during lunch. He greeted me, waving his hands, trying to signify he wanted to talk to me.

"Haruhi Suzumiya has been growing even more stable everyday."

So? Is it my job to hear your input nowadays too?

"Last night, my colleagues told me that the world was seemingly…at peace for a few minutes. I mean it. No global event, no sealed realities, nothing. The world, became peaceful, if only for a few minutes."

…why are you telling me this again?

"I believe it is thanks to you. So what did you say to Suzumiya-san?"

"I just praised her ego, that's all. Nothing you don't do everyday."

Koizumi only let out a laugh.

---0---

That day, Haruhi dragged me out of the classroom right before we went to the club. She dragged me all the way to an abandoned storage room, and pinned me against the wall.

"I just wanted to say this to you, before any club member sees us."

Am I getting a promotion?

"For all the things you said yesterday, I've been debating whether or not you should receive a demerit."

For saying I liked you in a ponytail?

"I mean, seriously! Are you trying to court me or anything?"

"Not like you'd care anyway, right? You'd probably dump me after five minutes."

Haruhi visibly blushed. Strange. She rarely blushes.

"True…but that's beside the point!"

So do you mind telling me what you plan to do with me?

"Well…after thinking it over… I've decided not to give you a demerit."

Hooray.

"However, you are NOT to say what happened between the two of us last night! Understood? If you do, heads will roll!"

There she goes with the death threat again. Sigh.

"Yes, ma'am."

She turned around and began walking away, ostensibly to do some other duty not related to the SOS brigade.

"Oh, and Kyon..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for listening to me. It really meant a lot to me."

An eternity seemed to pass as she said those words to me.

In the end, I smiled.

"No problem."

---0---

Franz: So how was it? I hope I did everyone justice, and if I failed, I apologize profusely. Please give me constructive criticism, so I can improve! I'm planning to write more Haruhi Suzumiya oneshots soon, and hopefully, next time I'll be able to write good KyonxHaruhi fics. Please leave your suggestions in the form of a review. Thank you.


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